Hong Kong Warning

    Hi everyone


    Firstly an apology! I view this forum everyday and should have registered ages ago to give my contribution to this great site!
    Just thought Id share a story with you all that happened to me in Hong Kong.


    In 2003 when I was working on the maxi yachts around the Whitsunday Islands I bought myself a sea hornet pacific speargun to use when the guests where ashore as a bit of fun. It's 110cm hip loading gun, I didnt want a chest loading gun as the water temp can get to 32 degrees its a bit hot for a wettie! I ended up taking that gun back to the UK with me (where I am from) and It sat there for years unused.
    Anyway now I live In New Zealand and have got back into spearfishing in a big way and have bought my gear from a shop called Ocean Hunter here in Auckland, an awesome shop and a great bunch of people working there who are very helpfull (no I do not have anything to do with Ocean HUnter!)


    Recently I flew back to the UK for my dads 50th Birthday as a surprise, had a great time and when I came to leave I took my sea hornet gun back with me in my surfboard bag with my snowboard too. I had a couple of hours transit in Hong Kong as I was flying with Cathay Pacific.


    I declared at London Heathrow to the check in staff that in my surfboard bag was a speargun and the lady on the dest told me that it was not a problem.
    I had a good flight to Hong Kong and only had 3 hours to wit until my connecting flight to Auckland.
    I checked back in and boarded my flight and got into my seat when I saw some armed police board the plane, I thought this should be interesting!
    Unfortunatly they walked straight towards me and said my full name and asked me to follow them, we exited the plane but instead of walking up the tunnel they opened a door next to the tunnel and led me down a spiral staircase where a police van was waiting.


    As I got into the van there was 7 armed police waiting ( none of them spoke english so I had a translator from the airline). I was asked to open my surfboard bag and explain what was in it. When I had explained they asked me for my permit, I had never even heard of a permit for a speargun before! I was told there was a good chance I would be arrested for a owning a firearm in Hong Kong without a permit, even though it was in my checked in baggage and I wouldnt even see the gun until I landed in Auckland!


    My plane left without me and I was taken to customs where I had to wait for 3 hours while they discussed the matter, I was pretty surprised with all this as I was thinking I can't be the first person to bring a speargun into Hong Kong!
    In the end they decided I wouldn't be arrested and they would make me up a temporary permit ( which is on my wall in my bedroom!)
    I was then told my next flight would be in 9 hours, so I caught a train into Hong Kong and had a wonder round.


    I thought I would share this with you guys as I wouldn't want it to happen to anyone else as it is a huge inconvenience! but a good excuse to wonder round a city I might not otherwise see.
    Alex


    There you go and heres a pic of my board bag in the police van while they decide what to do with me, I asked if I could have a pic of the armed police but was refused!


    Fish gun and arrow LOL Kudos for documenting the experience.


    There are spearguns made in China, it's unlikely that customs haven't been exposed to them. Sometimes I wonder if they do this sort of thing just so you can go home and tell about how thorough they are, so others don't think about trying to bring in the real thing.


    Clean looking police bus.

    i had purchased a ticketlast year to fly from the states to thailand, via a layover in hong kong. at the time i wasnt aware of the problem you would have regarding spearing gear transiting thru h.k.a fellow spearman made me aware of the problem that would occur if i did transit thru there, the same rule applies with mainland china as well i was told, needless to say i had to buy another ticket with transit thru tokyo and had no problems at all with my gear on my way home...hope others will be aware of this situation and avoid china if at all possible

    I also noticed the fish gun/ arrow and really nice police truck.


    I think I remember another story on the subject, I think the permit costs some money.


    Their definition of a firearm is something that can discharge a projectile in excess of a specified amount of energy. BB guns exceed this energy so speargun certainly qualify.

    Davie Peguero

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